Focus back on Ohio lethal drug after execution

LUCASVILLE, Ohio (AP) - Attention has returned to Ohio's search for a new execution drug after the state put to death a security guard's killer and the deadline for finding a new drug grows closer.

Frederick Treesh died Wednesday morning after receiving a dose of the powerful sedative pentobarbital in the state death chamber in Lucasville.

The 48-year-old Treesh and a co-defendant ended a six-state crime rampage with the Aug. 27, 1994, shooting death of Henry Dupree in Eastlake, east of Cleveland.

The state runs out of its pentobarbital supply in September, and the Department of Rehabilitation and Correction is seeking an alternative.

The state is next scheduled to execute a Richland County man in May for fatally beating and raping his girlfriend's 6-month-old daughter.